TOP 15 READER POLL SKIERS SHARE STORIES
TOP 15 READER POLL SKIERS SHARE STORIES
Listen to and Read From October Issue Feature Story, "The Chosen"
Editor's note: In the October 2009 issue that hit newsstands a couple weeks ago, we ran a feature titled “The Chosen” that profiled the top 15 skiers in the world as chosen by you. The top 15 skiers were elected by Powder readers voting at Powderawards.com for the 2009 Powder Reader Poll, held in conjunction with the 9th Annual We Ski and Snowboard Powder Video Awards in Aspen, Colorado. Below are four interviews for that story that feature audio interviews and more content than what was used for the "The Chosen" in the magazine.
He really lets his actions speak more than his words. He’s not going out and claiming he’s going to do something. He just goes and does it without really knowing what he’s going to do. When we were in Norway a few years back, he would pick out the biggest diving board on each face, and it was really easy for him to pick the lines because he knew we weren’t going to pick them. He was going to send it off the biggest diving board possible and most likely throw a back or front flip.
I really enjoy his aggressive turns that are really fluid. He really gets into those turns. The most I take from him is the way he lays into his skis. He has full control of every part of his ski and friggin’ rips into them.
It’s crazy that I competed with him in big air five or six years ago. And now he’s out there just shredding pow and killing it every day. That’s a big transition and it’s very unique.
He’s just a happy, happy Canadian. He skis every day and that’s all he does. And he loves it.
When we’re flying around in Haines, we’ll be back at the end of the day and I’ll have between six to 12 photos of the lines I skied that day. Whereas Hoji will have have 80 or 90 photos per day. Everything he looks at that is appealing to his eye he’ll take a picture, whether he’s going to ski it or not. He’s really inspired by all these features and peaks around him.
I think he has a really dynamic style. He’s got a lot of angulation. To me, he’s kind of got a little bit of oldschool flair to his style. I think that style has stuck with him and has evolved with him as he’s grown as a skier.
I think he’s quite possibly got the nicest turn out there. I’m pretty envious of it actually.
I think it’s his humble attitude more than anything. On and off the hill, he’s super unassuming. When your hanging out with a person who’s as humble as he is, I really learn from it. He’s never the one out there saying that line is mine. He’s always like, if you want to ski it, you can ski it. With that humble attitude he’s just really willing to go out of his way to help his buddies.
He came out of left field with the beard this year. Little baby-faced Hoji shows up this year with a bold man-beard and I can’t even grow a moustache.
I’ve watched him in the TGR films and he’s definitely brought the jib skiing into the backcountry. In the first couple years I skied with him, he was pretty mellow with his line choices. Then last year when we first rode with Jeremy Jones in Haines, he came into the trip when Jeremy was leaving. He came wearing the exact same colors as Jeremy Jones and instantly was skiing Jeremy Jones style lines. It was insane—the level that he stepped up to. He filled the shoes of Jeremy Jones in a sense.
He said to me he stepped away from a lot of lines and he’s always standing there watching Jeremy Jones do all this stuff, and he picked up quite a bit just from watching him do these lines and the process of figuring out how to do it. Like, “Now it’s time for me to do it.” Ever since that two seasons ago, he’s been going nuts with the gnarly lines. He’s still doing his jibbing stuff, but he’s really stepped up into the gnar ride.
For Sage it’s different because he wasn’t a park competitor or anything like that. He was always more of a skier than a competitor.
He’s pretty creative in the lines he chooses and airs to jump off of. He’s a very well rounded backcountry-type skier. Adding the gnar part to it I think he was scared more than anything. Now he’s in a different world.
When he said he was going to Hotel Room, I was thinking about going and I just didn’t’ want to go up there by myself. It gives you more confidence when you can be there with someone else. That’s what’s nice about having dudes like that to ski with. Sure, I’ve been doing this for a long time, but it’s great to see a different perspective. He’s always willing to help you out and to step down and let you have something if you haven’t had a chance to do what you want to do.
Sage is totally a humble dude. If you met him on the street, you’d have no idea the kind of crazy stuff he does.
Reader Comments
-- No comments have been added to this entry. --
+ Add Comment
Subscribe